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It started off as a joke. Well, not even.
It was just Izumi’s fleeting words and reckoning Leo to a pet rather than one of his “children.” That's what he thinks he heard Izumi say to Arashi over a call mid-conversation one day anyway. With how he has seen Izumi take care of those around him (albeit in a tsundere-like way), Izumi as a mother figure made sense. Or with him, maybe he was something more like an owner.
Somewhere along the way, his owner/pet dynamic with Izumi became another inside joke among Knights — one that Leo found he didn’t particularly mind taking part in. If he could be taken care of and not have to worry about all the nitty-gritty things in life, then he will gladly be Izumi’s pet.
He didn’t pay much attention to the whole pet thing—even forgetting about it—until one day in the midst of acting out during a bath, the whole pet thing came forth again and affected Leo in a way he couldn't quite understand.
“You’re like a bad puppy, stay still.” Izumi grumbled, shielding himself from the attack of Leo shaking his head and his hair splattering soapy water everywhere.
Actually listening, his laughter calmed down to a soft giggle then turned into silence as the word replayed in his head over and over again.
Puppy.
The actual comment wasn’t one of praise or anything, and Leo most definitely tuned out the word “bad” — but that didn’t stop his mind from lingering on the word. All this time Izumi had called him a pet, his pet if Leo were to delude himself a little, but puppy? Oh that brought on a different sort of feeling, one that made the back of his mind feel tingly and his heart hum happily.
When it came to Izumi, Leo loved to act a little less capable than he actually was so that Izumi would scold him and care for him- the duality of it all interesting and endearing. Sometimes, it was also fun to act up purposely just to see the other’s reactions.
But right now puppy rang in his head so loudly that he sat still long enough for Izumi to rinse the soap in his hair out, long enough for Izumi to throw the towels on him. He listened to distant instructions and dressed himself in the pajamas left on the bed, sat down on the floor so Izumi could blow dry his hair from where he settled on the bed’s edge.
Maybe if he didn’t get too distracted and did what was told of him, maybe he could hear that low-toned voice call him that word again.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
To his disappointment however, Izumi finished the routine off by combing through Leo’s hair one last time with his fingers then clicking the blow dryer off. And in that moment of silence, Leo leaned back, tilted his head up and bore his green eyes into blue ones.
“Are you not going to say it again?”
A breath, a second one, Izumi looking down at Leo in a way that conveyed confusion. Blasphemy, his knight should know how to read his thoughts by now.
“Say what again exactly? The last thing I said was for you to sit still again so I could dry your hair.”
Right right, so evidently Izumi thought nothing of the passing word- which was unfair. Here Leo was being so good and obedient and Izumi was none the wiser.
“Exactly. I listened and sat still! But you’re not even praising me…”
Izumi tilted his head slightly, humming, searching. There must have been something in the air, the same sort of thing that Leo was also breathing in and messing with his head, because Izumi was oddly generous.
“You’ve been good Leo, good job."
His heart flipped and stuttered, and Leo smiled at that for a quick moment — but it wasn’t what he wanted. He turned his body around, leaning forward so his cheek was nuzzled against Izumi’s leg.
“No… no not that. The other thing. During the bath.”
Why he didn’t just tell Izumi what he wanted, neither of them knew, but it was what Leo was doing so help them both.
Slender fingers pushed away Leo’s bangs, tucking some hair behind his ear. Rather than get annoyed or impatient, Izumi just stared at him, trying to remember what took place during the bath.
Izumi licked his lips. Leo was sure he had the words right on his tongue, he just had to actually say them.
“…You mean when I called you a bad puppy?”
Puppy! That’s it. Call me that again, please. Say the word and my life is yours (it already is).
A slow exhale left him, and his shoulders eased; there was that floaty feeling again. Izumi quirked an eyebrow, then-
“You… eventually listened, so you’re not totally bad. You’ve been a good puppy, Leo.”
The words were uncertain, as if he was testing them out to see if he got them right first. And he certainly was, Leo’s heart leapt and his head blanked.
Puppy. A good puppy. Praise. Acknowledgment of his efforts.
His lips slightly parted and he himself expected a Leo-typical response to come out—maybe a toothy smile or a silly little woof—but what followed was a small, barely audible and breathy whimper as he tried to hide his face with Izumi’s leg. It was a little embarrassing with how his body trembled with glee. This fuzziness and joy could spark inspiration; it could get him writing a whole song about the feeling alone, but his head was emptying itself out every second he stayed in the headspace.
Leo wasn’t upset, not really. For once, he didn’t mind that his head was blanking. It wasn’t the frustrating type of empty, one that presented itself when he was stuck in a creative rut. No, this blankness was good, peacefully quiet, something he’d feel for a fleeting moment whenever Izumi’s hand would linger on the back of his neck or when he found himself lying on Izumi’s lap.
It was warm, comforting. His head turned to mush, and he wanted to be nothing more than, well, Izumi’s good puppy.
The quiet was too long and Leo looked up again, a sliver of nervousness lodging itself in between the fuzziness and bliss. Was it too weird for him to be like this? He’s been weirder. Or maybe this was different? Since it wasn’t a joke followed by the hushed teasing and knowing smiles from friends but rather something more intimate- something like a forming secret between just the two of them.
His unease was quelled when he saw an amused smile and felt a hand on top his head, petting him.
“Hm~ So you like that? Being called a puppy? Should’ve seen that coming.”
Oh, good. Izumi wasn’t put off by this.
“It makes my head feel all tingly, like a fizzy drink,” Leo murmured.
Izumi’s legs pulled up onto the bed, and Leo crawled onto the bed himself after a good stretch.
“That’s an interesting way to put it… but it's good, basically?” Izumi hummed in thought, as if he was tucking the bit of new information into the back of his mind for later.